This is a place for us to share our experiences as we live in Germany for 10 weeks!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Some firsts for us :)

Today was pretty interesting. We had a few firsts such as the girls seeing Kuka, Turkish food and driving in Germany!

We went
to Kuka to see where Brad will be working. It was only about 10
minutes from home so that will be great for him every day. The girls
had never been in the Kuka building so we had a little tour. We saw
their cafe and it's realy cool. Great food smells were coming from
there! They used to sell beer in there, but I don't know if they
still do that, LOL! We saw his work area and desk and met some more
co-workers.

We talked to his German boss Alex for awhile and he told
us that when we come for dinner, they are serving Knoedel! I promise
to take pictures of what this is at that time, on the 27th.
It is delicious! We saw the training area, Kuka College then went
back home. We were almost home and decided to go to Aldi for a few
grocery items. We had the GPS find Aldi which we knew was close by.
GPS chose to send us to the other side of the city, through the
downtown area of Augsburg. That was not fun. There is a lot of
construction there and just so many cars. It was really a drag.

We came back home and Karen and Lydia
stopped by again. We decided to find a Doener Kebap place for Brad.
A Doener is the Turkish version of a gyro but made from turkey. Karen drove us all to
the mall. It was soooo good! I never liked gyros before, but this
is excellent. I had mine on a fresh roll, Brad and the girls had
theirs in a wrap (called a Durum I think.) Then we got some
smoothies. The mall is very American-like. There are many stores
that the girls and I are looking forward to shopping in, but we will
wait until Brad is working so we don't have to drag him along
unwillingly!

Lainie at the mall

We went to a big store like Best Buy to look at some
phones for my use over here to call German numbers. The Bradster
bought me a new phone! Now we have to get a sim card and a calling
plan. They sell them at Aldi and it's only $20/month and includes
data. It will be good to have a phone, especially when Brad takes
his to work with him!

We came back home and then Lainie and I
went with Karen and Lydia over to Johanna's house one street over.
She used to live across the street from Karen. She has 4 kids, 3 of
whom are girls. Her oldest, Lucia, is Lainie's age and spent last
summer in the States, so her English was pretty good. The kids all
got along well! They also have a big adorable dog, so we got our
doggie fix :) Johanna and Karen tried to help me decide about a trip
to take.

Our original plan was to travel this
week since Brad is off. We were going to stay in a hotel or vacation
rental home for a few days and see some great city. We just can't
decide where to go. They have many good ideas, as does everyone we
ask. Now we have so many ideas that we really can't decide! After
talking to each family member, we all agree that staying close to
home is the best bet. None of us want to pack up and leave since we
just got here! So we will do some day trips and still see some cool
sights.

So we got back from Johanna's at about
7:30 and I wanted to get my phone going, so I asked Brad to drive
with me to Aldi. But I drove! Woo hoo!!! I figured it would be a
good time since it's night and there won't be many cars, and the
other drivers can't see my face, in the likely event that I do
something stupid. But I made it! I even parked the car in our
driveway which may not sound like much to you, but if you have ever
seen a German driveway on a narrow street, you will know this is an
amazing feat!

We still didn't get the sim card
because no one spoke English at the store and we didn't want to get
the wrong one. Tomorrow we will be sure to figure it out!!

Here is another first: Easter eggs for Christmas.

Yes, I bought them like this. Apparently the sell colored hard boiled eggs year round! Who knew? So here is a little Christmas vignette. Advent candles, star shaped cookies and Easter eggs.

Now we are hanging out on our
computers, trying to figure out tomorrow's agenda and Lea is goofing
around with her Ipod. We are getting ready for a game of Apples To
Apples. Or should I say Apfels?